Best Actor 1941

[Bruce_Lavigne]

I'm absolutely stunned that all the praise here for Welles' Citizen Kane performance is so lukewarm (at best). While it's true that the film is rightly viewed as a triumph of filmmaking rather than an acting showcase, I've always seen Welles' portrayal of Kane as one of the great, towering achievements of screen acting. There've been a lot of years in this category wherein a certain performance just blows me away so much that I could never not vote for it, no matter how impressive the competition. Muni in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang; Huston in Dodsworth; Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath. And I hold Welles' Kane performance in higher esteem than even those others. He gets my vote as easily as anybody in this category is ever going to.



Edited By Bruce_Lavigne on 1298084736

[Damien]

What a weak line up!

When I finally saw The Devil And Daniel Webster I was amazed at how small Walter Huston's role was (although a title role, he is supporting) and -- even though Mr. Scratch is a semi-iconic character -- how unimpressive the performance is. Not bad, of course since we're talking Walter Huston, but rather bland.

Cary Grant's two nominations were not only for two of his most atypical roles, they were also for two of his most unappealing performances. He's lugubrious in Penny Serenade, although that's perfectly in keeping with George Steven's dreary, leaden pacing.

I don't think there was a worse actor among major stars in the studio days than Gary Cooper. Whenever I see him, I'm always reminded of a joke I heard 40 years ago. "He's so wooden I kept looking to see if he was sitting on Edgar Bergen's lap." (The one exception being Pride of the Yankees. The joke was actually referring to Kim Novak in Picnic.) He's his usual deadly dull self in Sergeant York, and when even Howard Hawks can't make an actor interesting, that's saying a lot.

Robert Montgomery is charming in Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but he was equally charming in any number of other pictures and doesn't do anything particularly Oscar-worthy here. I assume his nomination was the result of the undeniable cleverness of the popular film's scenario.

Which leaves us with Orson Welles. His performance is his least memorable contribution to Citizen Kane, and if he is lacking the charisma that the role cries out for, he nevertheless nails down the myriad and often contradictory traits of his character. I vote for him.

Among the actors I would rather have seen nominated than this bunch are Humphrey Bogart in High Sierra, Roddy McDowall and Walter Pidgeon in How Green Was My Valley, James Cagney in The Strawberry Blonde, Charles Boyer in Hold Back The Dawn, William Powell in Love Crazy and Dana Andrews in Swamp Water.



Edited By Damien on 1298016490

[Precious Doll]

Another solid line up with Cary Grant's uncharacteristic work in Penny Serenade my favorite.

My choices:

1. Cary Grant for Penny Serenade
2. Orson Welles for Citizen Kane
3. Joel McCrea for Sullivan's Travels
4. Henry Fonda for The Lady Eve
5. Humphrey Bogart for The Maltese Falcon

[Reza]

Never liked Cooper's ''aww shucks'' performance as Sergeant York.......yes, he was much better elsewhere this year. Huston is good but his is clearly a supporting performance. Absurd that Grant was nominated for Penny Seranade when it is Irene Dunne's film all the way. Enjoyed Montgomery in Mr Jordan.

Voted for Welles.

My picks for 1941:

Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese Falcon
Gary Cooper, Meet John Doe
Edward G. Robinson, The Sea Wolf
Orson Welles, Citizen Kane
Robert Montgomery, Here Comes Mr Jordan

[Mister Tee]

I'm generally immune to Gary Cooper's folksy charms in his dramas; his comedies work better -- notably, as Magilla cites, Ball of Fire, which has the zip most of Howard Hawks' films provide but which Sergeant York lacks. I tried to watch this again recently, and the backwoods shtik just drove me away.

Cary Grant's comic brilliance, like Bogart's tough guy-ness, was so taken for granted by the Academy that they only nominated him when it was absent, as here. Definitely the less impressive of his two nominated performances, and way inferior to half a dozen that could have been honored.

All That Money Can Buy/Devil and Daniel Webster is a really pleasurable, inventive film -- by far the best Dieterle ever put together -- and Huston is sheer delight in it. But I've already voted for him once, expect to do it again, and it's time to give someone else a chance.

Robert Montgomery gets a close look. He's in his comic prime with Here Comes Mr. Jordan -- a very enjoyable, whip-smart comedy for which he's the perfect center.

But it was Orson Welles' year, and I have to give him the nod, for the breadth if not the depth of his performance, and, sure, a salute for all the other prizes he was so famously denied that year.

[Sabin]

Fascinated at the prospect of seeing The Devil and Daniel Webster. Must bow out again this year. I had a good two year run. It should be said, I can't imagine not casting my vote for Orson Welles.

[Big Magilla]

Yes, I know Academy records list Walter Huston's nomination for All That Money Can Buy, but that title was used only for the film's initial run at Radio City Music Hall in September, 1941. Everywhere else it played under the title of Stephen Vincent Benet's original short story. Its 1952 release version was re-titled Daniel and the Devil, which not only shortened the title but the film itself by 21 minutes. Thankfully the 2003 Criterion edition restores the film to its full glory.

In any event, Huston's portrayal of the devil, called here "Mr. Scratch" was one of his greatest performances. It is, however, along with Edward Arnold's Daniel Webster, a supporting role. James Craig and Anne Shirley have the actual leads.

In the best of all possible worlds he would have been nominated in support in place of that other Walter, Brennan, and Roddy McDowall in one of the greatest child performances of all time would have been nominated for How Green Was My Valley. Of course McDowall's performacne could also be considered supporting so I guess the most likely scenario in that best of all possible worlds would be for him to have been nominated in support in place of Brennan, which would leave Huston out in the cold. That being the case I would have preferred his slot to have gone to Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, my personal favorite among this year's contenders.

Sergeant York was the King's Speech of its day, a huge box office hit and Oscar front-runner that people seemed to like more for what it was about than what it actually accomplished. Gary Cooper's reverent portrayal of the most decorated soldier of World War I is fine, but the actor was much better that year in both Meet John Doe and Ball of Fire.

At least one can understand the reasons for Cooper's being nominated for the phenomenon that was Sergeant York, but one can only scratch one's head that Cary Grant was nominated for Penny Serenade instead of Suspicion. The tearjerker about the death of an adopted child and what it does to a marriage was beautifully acted by Irene Dunne, but Grant seems ill at ease throughout and is much more effective menacing Joan Fontaine in her Oscar winning role in Suspicion.

Robert Montgomery is perfectly cast in Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but for my money the best performance in the film was that of James Gleason, who was nominated in support in the role Jack Warden would reprise in the 1978 remake, retitled Heaven Can Wait, but it's a decent go-along nomination.

Orson Welles is therefore the only one who was clearly nominated in the right category for the right film, but Welles' performance is for me the least of his contributions to Citizen Kane.

So, although he's nominated for the wrong film, my vote goes to the Oscar winner, Gary Cooper in Sergeant York.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1298407867